Extremely Graphic & Bloody Ads Tout Workplace Safety
Posted October 3, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
- When it comes to getting a safety message across, how much is too much?
That’s the question many are wondering after the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) introduced one of the most graphic series of ads ever seen in this province.
The commercials contain disturbing graphic recreations of accidents, including one labeled ‘retail’, in which a store employee falls off a ladder and smashes into a glass display below. She rises with a broken hand and a bloody face, wondering why the company allowed it to happen.
In the second equally frightening spot, a man driving a forklift in a factory backs into a shelf lined with heavy objects and they come crashing down on top of him.
The worker manages to get up and with a faced bloodied by the force of the items that piled on top of him, he speaks while impaled with a bar sticking out of his chest.
He blames the supervisor for not reporting the broken shelf and the company for not being more pro-active about safety.
Both end with the tagline ‘there are no accidents.’
The WSIB makes no apologies for the nature of the spots.
“It’s very hard to watch, but this is what’s happening in our workplace,” maintains chair Steve Mahoney. “Our campaign is going to ratchet up that information. We’re going to drive it home aggressively, proactively and tough as we can, and I hope it upsets folks.”
The Board claims almost 100 Ontario workers died last year in needless accidents and thousands more suffered serious injuries or illness on the job because of negligence and lack of care.
What do those they’re aimed at think of the spots?
“That’s gross. That’s really gross,” grimaces Cheryl Birmingham. “Too much.”
Electrician Ken Ryan doesn’t think the ads go far enough based on what he’s witnessed on construction sites.
“I seen a guy on the 21st floor,” he recalls. “He’s got his harness on and he’s not tied off to anything.
“He’s going to fall 21 floors.”
The WSIB is charged with monitoring the safety of employees, helps dole out disability benefits and looks after the healthcare needs of those injured on the job.
The ads will be featured on TV, print, billboards and in transit shelters. To see them for yourself, click here.
